“Clash of the Titans: Alatar, After Comer Darkness Slayer & Vecna, Master of the Spider Throne.” Beginning with Stranger Things S1:E1 the Duffer Brothers combined lore from Dungeons & Dragons and The Lord of the Rings. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will were playing D&D where we first heard about the dreaded Demogorgon. Then later in the episode after Will had disappeared, his mom and brother are seen in the woods. Joyce reaches Castle Byers and there’s a quick flashback. She’s asked for the password to enter: “Radagast” introduced in Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
I have a sneaky suspicion that Will’s connection with the Upside Down goes deeper than we know. Tolkien discusses the Blue Wizards in his “essays of the Istari,” and I’d bet $2 that Will may just be Alatar, one of the two Blues. We’ll just have to wait and see until November 27 to discover Will’s true nature. I created these two title graphics, one flat and textured treated similarly to the show’s opening graphics, but I added some Upside Down details in the center. The 3D version was an exercise in experimenting with the new bevels introduced in C4D R21.
From the lore of J. R. R. Tolkien & E. Gary Gygax | Smaug vs Tiamat | Middle Earth vs Oerth | The Lord of the Rings vs Dungeons & Dragons. Stranger Things Season V: The Battle of Greyhawk(ins). Coming to Netflix (possibly) November 27, 2025
